04-653   Engineering Artificial Intelligence Project Methods

Location: Africa

Units: 6

Semester Offered: Fall

Course description

The purpose of this course is to assist engineers to understand the components of complex engineering
artificial intelligence (AI) projects, to manage those project components, and to form and lead a project team.
 
Project management tools and techniques will be introduced, discussed, and applied to ongoing or subsequent projects in your studies. Special attention is paid to the diversity of stakeholders who may be involved in AI projects, the special role of data and processing resources, as well as managing privacy and ethical issues of AI-based engineering projects. Techniques for eliciting design features, engaging users, identifying constraints, and developing system requirements will be covered, especially in a diverse stakeholder environment. Tools for managing projects and continuous integration and continuous delivery practices are also covered. 
 
The course consists of weekly hands-on assignments as well as a final project to integrate the project methods covered in the class.

Learning objectives

In this course, we will:

  • Discuss the stakeholders in a project on both the client and project team sides
  • Discuss the process for a project team to work with a client to gather system requirements and develop a project statement of work
  • Have students use agile methods and industry-standard tools for planning and tracking their project
  • Use tools for rapidly prototyping solutions for the client
  • Understand the challenges and tools needed to design solutions for a variety of end users.
  • Acquire techniques for managing project code and provide continuous integration and continuous
    delivery

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will be better able to:

  • Understand the challenges in AI system design and building successful projects
  • Identify project stakeholders and their impact on project success
  • Work with customers and end users to better understand project requirements and goals
  • Use Agile Methods and related tools for project management and solution design
  • Rapidly prototype solution interfaces for continuous stakeholder feedback
  • Use ethnographic methods with diverse end users to inform solution design
  • Use automated tools for managing project code, data, and models
  • Automate the integration, testing, and delivery of solutions for rapid iterations and improvement

Content details

The class is taught through weekly lectures and assignments according to this schedule:

  • Week 1: Introduction, system requirements gathering
  • Week 2: Statement of work planning
  • Week 3: Gitlab for Agile planning/tracking
  • Week 4: User interface design in Dash
  • Week 5: Designing for users across cultures
  • Week 6: GitLab for code and continuous integration/continuous delivery
  • Week 7: ModelOps CI/CD in GitLab, final project presentations
Grading is based on written assignments, a final portfolio of work, participation, and attendance.

Prerequisites

Must be a second-year student in the MS EAI program.

Faculty

Charles Wiecha and Tim Brown